<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>Wixen by Grace_Aqualinein</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/28052214">Wixen</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grace_Aqualinein/pseuds/Grace_Aqualinein'>Grace_Aqualinein</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Book 3: Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Department of Mysteries, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Slight Albus Dumbledore bashing, Vampires, the timeline is kinda weird, world building</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>In-Progress</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2021-01-12</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-12-13</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-10 15:07:00</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>Teen And Up Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,094</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/28052214</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/Grace_Aqualinein/pseuds/Grace_Aqualinein</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>The Lupins were never a big part of wix society. Lyall Lupin was an auror, Hope Lupin was a muggleborn (and considering the political climate, that's all that needs to be said), and Remus Lupin was a werewolf. And even if Remus had a measure of brilliancy to his name, it was all overshadowed by his unfortunate malady, even if Lyall was right about Greyback, he was just a simple auror, and even if Hope had a more than decent proficiency with magic, her status as a muggleborn never really let her shine.<br/>And then we have Charalei.<br/> </p><p>Disclaimer:<br/>This is a Harry Potter fanfiction, with a few preliminary chapters set during the Marauder's era. There will be cursing, and possibly a few mature concepts. It is also mainly OC-centric and will engage in a fair bit of world building before Harry even steps onto the scene. You have been warned.</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>1. It All Started</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>It all started with a bite.</p><p>Lyall Lupin, who was uncannily wise (not that it had helped, in the end) and had realized exactly what Fenrir Greyback was, had gained a rather tricky enemy. What he had also gained was a son suffering from lycanthropy.</p><p>Luckily, Remus had a little sister, just barely a year younger than him. She had been sleeping over with another friend that fateful night, and so had eluded being bitten. So, both Lyall and Hope decided to ignore the elephant (werewolf) in the room and coddle their daughter instead of trying to take care of their son.</p><p>Said daughter, though, had inherited Lyall's canniness - to her brother's luck. By the age of seven, she had realized just exactly what her parents were doing, and so started subtly helping her brother out. Giving him food if their wonderful parents 'forgot' to bring him any the days and nights before the full moon, comforting him after the moons, and taking notes for him during school when he was unable to became her taking the blame for so many more things than she really should've and actively standing up to their father when he was drunk and Remus was unfortunate enough to be caught in the crossfire (of course, when he finally sobered up, he cried and apologized to his darling little girl for hitting her instead of her monster of a brother).</p><p>Then, the letter from Hogwarts came.</p><p>At first, Lyall had been loathe to let Remus go to such a prestigious school. After about a week of arguing, though, Hope had finally convinced Lyall to accept Dumbledore's offers to make the school safe enough for Remus to attend, and so he was off to the grand castle, clad in second hand clothing and carrying used books.</p><p>The girl was the opposite of happy to see her brother go. After all, she had been looking out for him for about three years now, and even dealing with the bullies in their muggle school that decided mocking Remus because of his monthly absences was a good idea. The few that were left that hadn't graduated primary school yet decided that she was a close enough substitute, but she refused to take any hits anymore, so she taught herself to fight back.</p><p>When Remus had come back at the beginning of summer, she had also managed to save up enough of an allowance to be able to at least buy him new robes. After all, she was much more responsible than their parents gave her credit for.</p><p>Then, her own letter came.</p><p>Hope took her shopping, letting Remus tag along as an afterthought. After all, since barely anyone else out of their family knew about the unfortunate circumstances surrounding Remus, it would have been odd to have the two siblings visit Diagon Alley on different days. The entire trip went quite well, since the girl had slipped a few galleons she lifted off Lyall along with the muggle money she saved up to Remus. He had gone to exchange the muggle coins for proper wizarding currency and then done his own shopping, while Hope eagerly bustled the girl from shop to shop.</p><p>They had ended up with a few more supplies than should have been necessary for a first year, but Hope didn't need to know that the girl would be sharing them.</p><p>Her wand was 9 and 3/4 inches, quite the ironic number. It was simple enough, made from blackthorn and unicorn hair. Ollivander seemed to be of the opposite opinion, muttering about the wood being suited for a warrior and the inevitable danger she would have to go through to properly bond with the wand. She outwardly disregarded the words, but internally memorized them and filed them away in a properly labeled chest in her mind. She didn't know much about wandmaking (that should change), but it did sound important.</p><p>Getting on the Hogwarts Express was uneventful. Lyall stood there self-importantly, briskly giving her a few dozen galleons of emergency spending money and Hope fussing over her just like every other mother present. Remus had slipped off to go meet with his friends after a few half-hearted platitudes, throwing her a grateful look, and so the girl bore the stereotypical mothering and teary goodbyes until Hope finally let her get on the train.</p><p>She left without a second look back.</p><p>On the train, she had met up with Remus, who was sitting with three other Gryffindor boys from his year. They were all roommates, and had seemed kind enough to her brother for her to pass a silent vote of acceptance on the matter. Despite the way they treated Remus, though, she didn't like them.</p><p>Black and Potter, both stuck up pureblood ponces, had goaded a second year Slytherin they passed who was sitting with a second year Gryffindor, who she soon thereafter learned to be Lily Evans. Potter simply couldn't shut up about the poor girl.</p><p>Then, there was Pettigrew. He was quiet and courteous, but exceedingly shy and the kind of person she learned bullies often went after. Of course, she knew from experience; more than one of her friends had fallen to that, and Remus used to be the same before she started scaring the bastards off with threats, the occasional punch, and even once a complaint to a teacher. Pettigrew didn't seem like he could stand up for himself. Even if he was being civil with Remus at the moment, nothing would keep him from turning on her brother in the future, if only to save face. Well, that was unless she could do something about it.</p><p>After meeting the other three, she was quite glad to not have introduced herself as Remus' sister. She was going to, of course, but Black had made a fool of himself immediately after she uttered her first name, so it never really came up. So, after the whirlwind of introductions, she had sat in the corner nearest the door of their compartment and pulled out a book to read quietly while Potter and Black babbled over each other about their summers.</p><p>Since Remus had gone through it all the year before, the girl had been expecting the boat ride to Hogwarts. Even if she had heard plenty about the veritable fortress from her brother, it still posed an impressive image, with all of its glowing windows, odd towers, and ramparts. And if she had an absolute look of awe on her face, well, no one needed to know.</p><p>She had also been bored throughout most of the first part of the Sorting. The one thing she noticed was that few were sorted into Slytherin, and those that were became subjects of uncomfortable glances and unenthusiastic clapping. To compensate for that, she only clapped when someone was sorted into the unfortunate house. If these people were really so prejudiced, she would just ignore the fact that they existed; simple as that. After all, no one was discriminating against any of the other houses, even if she had overheard Lyall complaining to Hope about some Hufflepuff Death Eater.</p><p>"Charalei Lupin!"</p><p>So, when her name was called, she calmly strode forward, eyes flicking to Remus. He was staring at her with an encouraging smile while Potter and Black completely disregarded everything around them, whispering to each other over the table. Pettigrew gave her a weak smile, to which she reacted with a lofty nod, before sweeping her robes just perfectly so to give the illusion of practically gliding onto the chair. At least all of Hope's etiquette lessons in hopes that she got herself a nice pureblood husband had paid off.</p><p>She didn't flinch when she could hear the Sorting Hat mumbling in her head, but grimaced at the uncomfortable feeling of something other than herself occupying the space and made a resolution to learn at least some rudimentary occlumency. "So, well informed, are we?" the Hat murmured, old voice grating. She just replied with the mental version of a shrug, and went back to trying to pick out the purebloods she could see from where she was sitting.</p><p>"You would do well in all of the houses, but only if you really pushed it for some of them. I see bravery, loyalty, cunning, and a thirst for knowledge and fear of losing the ones dearest to you. Hm... You could prosper in Slytherin, but I think it should be..."</p><p>The hat paused dramatically, and then yelled out the next word to the rest of the room.</p><p>"Ravenclaw!"</p>
  </div></div>
<a name="section0002"><h2>2. Acquaintances</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>About a month into the term, Charalei came across that Slytherin that was sitting with Lily Evans on the train. He was sitting at the very end of the Slytherin table, in the corner furthest away from the high table. Now that she had the moment to really look at him, she noticed he was also wearing shabby clothes, with stitched together holes and frayed fabric. A few of his housemates seemed to be sending him distasteful looks, and Potter and Black seemed to be looking at him just as often, their glances more than a bit malicious.</p><p>So, after waving a hello to Remus, she strode over and plopped down right in front of him.</p><p>He shot her a wary look, but she said nothing, only calmly starting to load up her plate. The boy kept on sending her suspicious glances, but she just ignored the fact, instead pulling out a book she had checked out from the library on hexes and jinxes, and starting to read while steadily shoveling food in her mouth.</p><p>The rest of breakfast was spent in slightly awkward silence, the tension coming from the dark-haired boy as she carefully behaved as though it was every other day. The boy, whose name she still didn't know, eventually decided to disregard her and picked at his food half heartedly. When it was finally time for classes, Charalei closed her book with a snap, stood, gave him a nod, and suppressed a self-satisfied smirk when he nodded tentatively back. She then turned, and left for Charms.</p><p>The same routine repeated itself for lunch and commenced during dinner, but of course, somebody had to decide that they had to involve themselves.</p><p>"Hey girl, I think you got the wrong table," Black's voice drawled just a few minutes after she sat down. "The Ravenclaw table is the next one over." Charalei turned calmly, coming face to face with him and Potter, each with an arm over the others' shoulders. She slipped her hand over slightly to rest over her wand, a rapid fire chain of half-formed thoughts reminding her to possibly look into dealing with magic without a wand, before raising a mocking brow. "I ain't blind, unlike your friend over there," she drawled, motioning towards Potter. </p><p>Said boy gasped, as if scandalized, and leaned closer. "Why, that's so uncouth! I can see perfectly well without my glasses!" Charalei's eyebrow only climbed higher as she raised her wand and murmured a small "Accio" to summon said item to her other hand, ignoring the raised eyebrows at the fourth year spell - come on, it was useful to know. "How many fingers am I holding up?" Potter squinted as she raised her middle fingers and flipped off the boy. "Three?" Black snorted before bursting out laughing as she shook her head in disappointment and gave Potter back his glasses. "Wrong. Now get out of here; we were quite enjoying the peace and quiet without two dunderheads making fools of themselves."</p><p>Potter put the glasses back on with a disgruntled expression, cuffing Black on the back of his head. "Let's go, Sirius," he mumbled, turning away. Charalei still caught the scheming light in his eyes, so if she used crossing her arms as a distraction for sending a tripping jinx after Black, no one could fault her. The best part was that since he was still giggling stupidly, it wasn't surprising to anyone when he got a face full of cobblestone.</p><p>When she turned back, the boy was staring at her with a mix of a confused and wondrous look on his face. She just nodded at him, and pointedly went back to her food. A moment later, he did the same.</p><p>The routine continued without the boys disturbing them again, but a few days later another person approached the Slytherin and Ravenclaw, this one with distinct red hair and green eyes. "Hi Severus!" Lily Evans chirped, plopping down next to Charalei with a big smile before turning to the shorter girl. "And hello to you too! I'm Lily, Lily Evans! Pleased to meet you!" Charalei gave her a small smile back, fidgeting slightly. "And I'm Charalei," she replied, holding out a hand which Lily eagerly shook. "Pleased to meet you as well."</p><p>The boy, Severus, looked up from his food with a rare smile. "Hi Lily," he said softly, throwing a glance at the still fidgeting Charalei. "I'm surprised to see you here." And indeed he was not the only one, because half of the first and  a good three fourths of the second years kept throwing surreptitious looks at the three, with Black and Potter almost entirely twisting their torsos around to stare.</p><p>"It's just been quite a long time since we've gotten to talk, and it seems you've made a new friend!" the redhead exclaimed, beaming at Charalei. "Well..." Severus replied stiffly, joining Charalei in fidgeting nervously. "Well, we aren't quite friends yet, but I was getting there," she said, closing the book she had been reading while keeping her finger in as a bookmark. "None of the Ravenclaws are interested in talking about anything other than school work, the Hufflepuffs are a bit too daft, the Gryffindors are mainly morons, excluding a few, and most of the Slytherins are so egotistical they can't see past their own noses. So, Severus, as a Slytherin, and therefore an ambitious man with a head on his shoulders but also none of the overinflated ego, seems like a very nice conversationalist that I would enjoy getting to know."</p><p>Lily nodded with a sage smile as Severus fairly gaped. "And indeed I can confirm that Severus is all you said and more! You've got a good eye on you." Charalei blinked in ill-concealed surprise at the honest compliment as Lily transitioned to wearing a smile that beamed like a beacon, the almost subconscious comparison shocking the younger girl back to attentiveness. "Thanks," she mumbled even as Lily chuckled and pulled Charalei into a strong hug unlike any other she'd gotten before. "Aw, you're so sweet!"</p><p>Charalei's pleading look towards Severus only netted her an amused look that clearly said she was on her own as the boy sipped a milky brown liquid that vaguely smelled like coffee. "Anyways, I'd stick around but I have a Charms essay to finish and I really, really want to get this one perfect. Ciao!" Lily abruptly ended the hug and popped up, giving a cheerful wave before fairly skipping away, missing the utterly lost look on Charalei's face.</p><p>"She can be like that," Severus muttered, a complicated expression surfacing for a moment before being pushed back down. "You love her all the more for that." </p><p>Charalei couldn't help but nod. "I can see that," she said absentmindedly, before turning back to properly face the hunched boy. "Now, even though I've been being a bit presumptuous and sitting here, I don't think I've properly introduced myself. Charalei Lupin. Before you say anything, no, I'm not doing any of this as a prank, and no, I'm not actually friends with those oafs Remus thinks acceptable to hang around - though, I can't fault him. Oh, and just call me Charalei."</p><p>She flushed at her rapid fire vomit of words as she stuck out her hand, but relaxed when Severus just chuckled, something intangible relaxing in his posture, and shook it. "Severus Snape; you can just call me Severus too. And how did you know I was going to ask that?" </p><p>"Well, Remus and I used to be bullied a bit too, you see - our parents decided to send us to a muggle school as well as teaching us some about magic, because they thought we should know how to blend in with muggles, and, well, some situations were not reacted to favourably by our classmates. Those were just questions I would have asked myself, if I was being approached by someone clearly related to a group that tried to make life difficult for me."</p><p>It was a bit of a gamble, but there needed to be one - from her own experience, no one really liked to hear someone say that they noticed them being bullied - for that's what it was. Charalei certainly wasn't blind, which meant she could see the hexes being thrown, and she wasn't deaf, and she could hear the deprecating words her brother luckily refused to throw himself (or she might have been forced to do something she didn't want to think about to him).</p><p>"Ah."</p><p>Charalei watched Severus nervously as he took in her words for a minute, and then finally nodded, letting her let out a big mental breath. "Okay then. Well, I can see now why he joined Potter and Black. He's just like Pettigrew." </p><p>Her scowl in answer to that was something fierce. "No, he isn't. Pettigrew is just a coward. Remus had a tough life and you don't see him snivelling like a wimp." Severus glared right back at her, thankfully with simple irritation and not the pure vitriol that was his gaze when he was fending off Potter and Black. "You know, that's kind of hard to see."</p><p>They glared at each other for a couple more minutes until Charalei finally folded, throwing a surreptitious glance at her brother. "Fair."</p><p>Remus chose that moment to turn to look towards Charalei and Severus, amber eyes catching his sister's soft green, a shade just a bit off from what Remus' eyes used to be like before Greyback's bite. He tilted his head in silent concern, gaze flickering towards Severus before meeting hers again in a clear question. Charalei just gave an exaggerated sigh and rolled her eyes before turning back to Severus, who was watching the entire situation with a mix of wariness and amusement. "But he does try, at times."</p><p>Severus sniggered and took a bite of his food. "Very well." </p><p>They fell into another, more final, silence, the tentative bonds of friendship beginning to form.</p>
  </div><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_foot_notes"><b>Notes for the Chapter:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
          <p>So, we have Severus (and partially Lily) on the scene. Charalei is a canny little twerp, isn't she?<br/>Please comment. If you don't like my work, please leave constructive criticism and don't just flame me. Oh and by the way, there's not gonna be an update for a while, if you've just stumbled on this. I'm posting the chapter so that the draft doesn't get deleted.</p>
        </blockquote><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff"><p>Hi.<br/>As I warned, this work will engage in some world building before Harry comes in. Once I've written it all out, I'll be posting a note to go along with the chapter that first (properly) has Harry in it (aka beyond him being a baby), which will give an overall description of who/what our main character is. I'd still recommend that you read the chapters said description will be covering, since it'll be covering several relatively essential concepts for this fic.<br/>Also, I'll be trying to skim over some (not all) of the more non-essential details. Oh, and this fic will have some fairly heavy moments in it. And chapters will be different lengths.<br/>Enjoy!</p></blockquote></div></div>
</body>
</html>